Vehicle breakdowns, accidents, criminal investigations, and other incidents may occur on or near highways or other roads. As a consequence, traffic is often slowed or stopped on parts or all of the affected road. When such incidents occur, certain personnel (i.e., highway patrol officer, police officer, and the like) often set up a sign or blockade on the road to warn approaching vehicles of the incident. However, such signs and blockades are detected passively by the human eye and have a number of drawbacks. One drawback of passively-detected signs and blockades is that the visible range is limited (i.e., the sign or blockade may only be viewed by vehicles that are in close proximity to the sign or blockade). Furthermore, adverse weather conditions may make it difficult to observe signs and blockades. Additionally, the signs and blockades may only provide a limited amount of information about the incident to drivers of vehicles approaching the incident.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.